I want to thank everyone who came to the Memphis area for NAUCC 2006. I was truly impressed with the quality of the people who came to our party. This was a group of people who are absolutely dedicated to their sport. I am still overwhelmed by the enthusiasm displayed by the people who came to Memphis to share this activity.
Every event was well attended. People kept coming back for more and more. Riders (and non-uni riders) showed up for the Fun Rides with great enthusiasm. Riders did not participate in just one or two activities, they signed up for 3 or 4 or 5 or more activities. We saw the same people over and over again at freestyle and Coker and MUni and racing and trials and fun rides.
The young people were great, so well behaved. After 3 days inside at the St. George’s gyms, nobody was bored. Nobody got into trouble or caused problems. Parents and young people alike, pitched in to help when help was needed. Trash got picked up, equipment moved, tasks taken care of, errands were run.
Everybody was dampened on Wednesday when it rained on most of the track events but their spirits were high. When I arrived at 8:30am, riders were on the track, racing in the rain. It rained off and on for hours but the races went on as scheduled (except for a short break due to lightening in the area).
The apparent success of NAUCC 2006 was due to a lot of people. From Memphis:
Tom and Joyce Maxwell who coordinated the use of the facilities at Houston High School.
Rick Mayfield who used his years of Unicycling experience along with his carpentry skills to build the hockey rink and some of the trials obstacles. Rick also provided a lot of sweat and manual labor.
Kevin Thorn who put the program together and got it printed.
Phil Baker (a non-rider) who showed up at several downtown fun rides to be sure they got started okay. Phil & Jamie Baker also spent many hours providing their help before, during and after NAUCC.
Matt Smeltzer who helped at the venues and fun rides.
Greg Cravens who helped by hosting the Sunday morning cross-country ride.
Hugh Garner who pitched in when help was needed.
Maria Lingerfelt arranged the Sunday evening public show.
(I am sure I am missing someone)
And, of course, Tommy Thompson who gave countless hours of his time to plan and arrange for the venues throughout the Memphis area.
There is also another group of people who seem to be getting missed. Connie Cotter and crew who came to Memphis to run the program. I will have to let Connie recognize these individuals because I don’t know who they are. They ran the contests. They did the judging and the record keeping. The T-shirts, medals and no telling what else all came from someone outside of Memphis.
For my first NAUCC it was a memorable event. We built it and y’all came.
Thank you for coming and for being great participants.
Richard Wertz
Memphis Unicycle Club